It has been several weeks since Australian driver Aiva Anagnostiadis has been in a racing car, but when she hits the track on Friday in the Netherlands, the Victorian will “switch something mentally” before putting her foot down.<\/p>\n
The F1 Academy returns to action on Friday night AEST in the Dutch town of Zandvoort, as part of the Formula 1 Dutch Grand Prix weekend.<\/p>\n
Anagnostiadis, along with fellow Australian Joanne CIconte, will be on track for practice ahead of this weekend’s racing.<\/p>\n
The previous round for the F1 Academy was in Montreal, more than two months ago, while drivers have not been in their cars since a testing session at Zandvoort in July.<\/p>\n
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Anagnostiadis has twice scored points this season, including during the previous weekend in Montreal. (Getty Images: Jordan McKean)<\/p>\n
Anagnostiadis, 18, has been on her simulator preparing for the two races this weekend. While a good training tool, the simulator cannot fully prepare you for stepping into a Formula 4 car and putting your foot down on the accelerator in the F1 Academy.<\/p>\n
Speaking to ABC Sport ahead of this week’s action, Anagnostiadis said the ability to “switch something mentally” and drive as fast as you can after weeks away from the car is a vital skill in the all-female category.<\/p>\n
“I think putting your pedal down where a normal person wouldn’t, that’s kind of the hardest part mentally, because you’ve got a normal person’s brain, you’ve got to kind of fight through that,” she said.<\/p>\n
“You kind of just have to switch something mentally in your brain and go, ‘OK you need to get back there straight away and push yourself.’<\/p>\n
“Because if you don’t, then you’re just going to be on the back foot the whole weekend, and it’s just not something that you want.”<\/p>\n
In her rookie season, Anagnostiadis has been able to achieve a pair of eighth-place finishes across the eight races.<\/p>\n
She finished eighth in the first race of the year, scoring one championship point, but by her own admission that result came about by some misfortune for drivers ahead.<\/p>\n
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Aiva Anagnostiadis is confident she, and her team, can continue to improve in the second half of the season. (Getty Images: Formula 1\/Malcolm Griffiths)<\/p>\n
Some lean results in Saudi Arabia and Miami followed, but Anagnostiadis and her team, Hitech TGR, enjoyed positive performances in Montreal.<\/p>\n
Anagnostiadis placed eighth, scoring four championship points, in the first race at Montreal. Her Hitech TGR teammate, Nicole Havrda, also scored one point by finishing 10th.<\/p>\n
Buoyed by a positive weekend in Canada, Anagnostiadis is hoping to replicate that form in the Netherlands this weekend.<\/p>\n
“From round one to where we were at round four, it’s been quite a progressive step,” she said.<\/p>\n
“In Montreal, we generally had the pace and we scored double points in that first race.<\/p>\n
“Montreal to where we were at Shanghai was a really positive jump, and now going into Zandvoort, I think it’s going to be even better.”<\/p>\n
It is not just the results on track where the Australian is noticing improvements.<\/p>\n
The exposure of the F1 Academy increases with each round, as the drivers gain new fans around the world.<\/p>\n
Media commitments and interaction with fans are a massive part of the development of the category, now in its third season.<\/p>\n